Schools across nation react to shooting

Dec. 17, 2012
|

A woman comforts a boy as mourners depart Honan Funeral Home after the funeral for six-year-old Jack Pinto on Dec.17 in Newtown Conn. / Mario Tama, Getty Images

by Greg Toppo
USA TODAY, USA TODAY

by Greg Toppo
USA TODAY, USA TODAY

Filed Under

ADVERTISEMENT

As schools nationwide welcomed students back on the first day after Friday's deadly shooting in Newtown, Conn., teachers and parents began walking the fine line between grief and normalcy, openness and vigilance.

Uncertainty was in the air a week before Christmas holidays, and many parents asked themselves a basic question: Should I even send my kid to school?

"My feelings were actually not even bringing her at all," said Joanne Nichols, who dropped her granddaughter off at Skyland Elementary School in Greenville, S.C. Citywide, principals and administrators got instructions to be highly visible as students arrived, but Nichols said she thought schools should be on lockdown all week.

In Neptune, N.J., Green Grove School Principal James M. Nulle stood at the doors, but a few parents said they were apprehensive about sending their children in.

"It was just scary," said Alicia Byrd, whose 5-year-old son arrived a bit late. He was having trouble letting go, she said - and so was she. Though the Connecticut shooting unfolded more than 130 miles north of this Jersey Shore town, "someone could be a copycat and decide they want to come to this school and do it," she said. "I pushed through it, though, and brought him."

Byrd said she talked to her son over the weekend to brace him for what he might hear at school. She left out many details. "I just told him that something bad happened at a school that was far, far away. I don't think he understood - it's too much. But he said, 'OK.'"

In Clawson, Mich., a Detroit suburb, Carrie Chambers wrestled all weekend with what to tell her 6-year-old son Tanner. "I know what a worrier he is," she said. "On the same note, I want to make him aware about it. I know he is going to hear stuff at school."

Several Detroit-area school districts e-mailed parents to let them know schools would increase police patrols and make counselors available. Children who hadn't heard about the shooting Friday probably learned about it over the weekend, said Gerald Shiener, a Birmingham, Mich., psychiatrist. "The first day back at school is significant in a situation like this because kids will be afraid something like that might happen, and they're wondering whether they can be safe at school," he said.

At Plains Elementary School in South Hadley, Mass., Principal Jillayne Flanders asked police to park a cruiser out front. She asked teachers to arrive early, telling them, "We need to act as normal as possible - and we need to be really, really careful about our adult conversations."

In Royersford, Pa., west of Philadelphia, Upper Providence Elementary School Principal Melissa Patschke asked "every adult to keep their own emotions in check." She said she wasn't worried about teachers sharing inappropriate details. "I'm more worried that they're going to cry." She said schools on Monday were performing "a tricky balancing act" between welcoming kids and being watchful for trouble. "The key to their comfort is routine and safety."

Both students and teachers had "totally normal" attendance, Patschke said.

In Pawling, N.Y., interim Superintendent W. Michael Mahoney, sent out a note urging teachers to "remove any indication of adult stress away from our young students so that they know they are safe." One of his teachers, Jackie Barden, lost her 7-year-old son Daniel in Friday's shooting.

At Baltz Elementary School in Elsmere, Del., the American flag flew at half-staff, but beyond that, it was largely business-as-usual. Cars and buses lined up in the fog, and a few parents walked their children to the door as usual. Several districts statewide got heightened police patrols, but Colonial School District spokeswoman Lauren Wilson said administrators pushed for "a normal Monday," with classes as usual. "Our goal today was not to frighten the children," she said.

In Fort Collins, Colo., Roy McCormick walked his daughter Madison, 6, into Laurel Elementary School. "We were a little leery today," he said. His sister kept her daughter out of school Monday because the 9-year-old was scared, but Madison said she wasn't afraid to go to school, even though she heard about the "bad man" that hurt students.

Administrators at the city's Poudre School District locked schools' side doors and guarded main entrances. That gave Kay Speer comfort as she dropped her granddaughter off. "I feel safe here," she said.

Mark Terry, principal of Eubanks Intermediate School in Southlake, Texas, said Monday morning was raw and somber, "especially among my teachers." The school serves about 650 fifth- and sixth-graders in suburban Dallas.

"I think fifth- and sixth-graders understand what happened, though it's pretty far away," he said. "Now the teachers, on the other hand, are very somber, very sad."

He said it's a good thing Christmas break arrives at the end of the week. "The teachers will have a chance to be with their loved ones and kind of get away from it a little bit."

Amid the grim mood, he said, teachers are on the lookout for intruders. Early Monday, a teacher marched into the office to report a stranger in the building. Turns out it was just the assistant superintendent paying a visit. The teacher didn't recognize her from behind.

David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold school district in northwest Texas, said last week that he believes arming his staff, much like federal air marshals, keeps kids safe. Thweatt told Fort Worth's Star-Telegram that since implementing his "guardian plan" in 2008, which allows an undisclosed number of staff members and teachers to carry concealed handguns, the tiny district hasn't had an incident.

The plan, which was heavily criticized at the time, was meant to minimize casualties while schools waited for police to arrive. He told the newspaper that he didn't want a plan in which you "lock yourself in your closet and hope that an intruder won't hurt you."

Terry predicted that Friday's shooting would change how schools operate, but he hopes it doesn't turn them into fortresses. "I think things will change, but I hope it doesn't change to the extent that parents and the community aren't comfortable with schools."

He said arming an entire school is "kind of a scary prospect," but location matters. "In West Texas, you can be 40 miles from any protection and any police. If somebody came in there and had a handgun, basically they could wipe out the whole school."

A police car is generally stationed a few feet away from his suburban Dallas elementary school. The middle school next door has a full-time security presence. But, he said, "if I'm 200 miles outside of Dallas, I'm going to wish I had a handgun."

In Clayton, Calif., east of San Francisco, parent Kelly Marshall volunteers in the library of her daughter's school. She said the first day back was "surreal."

After a mandatory 8:15 a.m. staff meeting, Marshall said, the school librarian said that effective immediately, all doors on campus would be locked at all times. "Today, we had to methodically let each student in as they approached the glass doors and we recognized them," Marshall told USA TODAY on Facebook. "And that's the way it will be from now on."

During morning announcements, she said, the principal explained that in each class, kids would practice how to "shelter in place" to make it look as if the classroom was empty. "I had to turn away from the kids and face the wall as my eyes filled with tears," she said.